MARBLE SARCOPHAGUS
Krasnodar Territory, Temruksky district, stanitsa Tamanskaya, Bald mountain burial barrow
The second half of the IV century BC
Marble, carving
Height - 1.24 meters, length of the lid - 2.60 m, length of the base – 2.46 m, width of the lid – 1.20 m, width of the base – 1.10 m
Excavations by Imperial Archaeological committee (IAC) of 1916; brought from the city Kerch
Showcase-center
The marble sarcophagus (coffin) was found in the stone crypt inside the burial barrow on the Bald mountain near the stanitsa Tamanskaya in the Krasnodar Territory. This sarcophagus was made of a marble monolith and weights 5 tons; it has a shape of antique temple and was crafted in Asia Minor in the second half of the IV century BC. It is decorated with different ornamental elements. Originally it was painted – ornamental rosaces in the middle part were covered with golden color, the background in hollows was pink. The sarcophagus was found on the eve of the revolution of the 1917 and it was not delivered to Saint-Petersburg like other findings. Before the Great Patriotic War the sarcophagus was kept in the Taman, but during the German occupation was transferred to the city Kerch and prepared to be sent to Germany. After the liberation of Kerch by soviet army, even before the war was over, the sarcophagus was carefully transferred to Moscow on the railway flatcar by worker of the State Historical Museum Natalia Patysheva and in 1945 the sarcophagus took its place in the permanent exhibition of the museum. A small fragment that split off during the war is nowadays kept in the East Crimean reserve museum in Kerch.
Exhibit’s purpose of use – the sarcophagus was placed in the crypt inside the burial barrow and inside the sarcophagus a coffin was put.
Uniqueness. Unique item. It has no direct analogy.
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